Peter Cook: A Life In Pieces

Now that Niklaus, Santa and the Christkind have gone, we’re stuck in that pleasant limbo before the Three Kings turn up and plunge us all back into usefulness. Languid days, pleasant though they are, benefit from a least a slight push in some sort of direction if only because rejecting a possibility is what keeps relaxation from turing into boredom.

As such, it’s time for that other OM holiday tradition: a chat with Arthur Streeb-Greebling.

Streeb-Greebling was a long time character of British Comedian Peter Cook and though he was a booze-soaked mess by the time this series was recorded in 1990/91, he is in as fine form as ever. Many of his colleagues regarded this character as Cook’s finest work. The five minute sketches are loosely based on the 12 Days of Christmas and in each one, Cook climbs to peak absurdity without slipping into farce.

His conversation partner, Ludovic Kennedy, was a British journalist who more regularly investigated miscarriages of justice while also helping to abolish the death penalty in the UK. He is in on the joke and plays a marvelous straight man.